Yenagoa – Commodore Yakubu Wanbai, the Commander, Nigerian Navy Naval Base, Yenagoa, on Friday handed over a woman rescued from kidnappers on Bayelsa waterways to the Bayelsa Police Command.
Wanbai handed over the victim, Mrs Tokoni TrustGod, to police representatives, CSP James Ejure, from Criminal Investigation Department, and Mr Richard Ogwuche of the Anti Kidnap Squad of Bayelsa Police Command.
Ejure, who received TrustGod from the commander, stressed the need for the security agencies in Bayelsa to continue to work together to effectively fight crime.
He commended the Navy for the feat and assured that the Police would conduct ‘’discrete investigations’’ into the matter with a view to apprehending the alleged kidnappers for prosecution.
Wanbai told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) shortly after the handing over, that the kidnappers had struck residence of the victim at about 2 a.m in Angiama-Gbene on Thursday.
“My men on patrol in the waterways got a distress call and the gunboat headed to the scene of the incident.
‘’The suspected kidnappers, whose speedboat had developed a fault, abandoned their victim and fled on sighting the patrol boat.
“My men rescued the woman and brought her to the base, in line with the existing inter-agency cooperation, we handed over the woman to the Police for preliminary investigations,’’ he said.
Narrating her ordeal, TrustGod told NAN that the kidnappers, numbering five and armed with gun and machetes, invaded her residence at Angiama-Gbene.
She said that the event took place in the early hours of Thursday, adding that the kidnappers later abducted her.
“They broke into the house and asked me if I was Prof. Millionaire Ambowei’s sister and I told them that I wasn’t.
‘’They said that I was lying and took me away to the water side where they put me in a speedboat.
“When we got to Olagbene, their boat developed fault and also ran out of fuel.
‘’When they saw an oncoming boat, they fled into the bush, I also ran away and the people in the boat took me and hid me in the neighbouring community.
“Shortly afterward, the kidnappers who had fixed their boat came back to the place I was kept and shot severally, threatening to kill the people if I was not produced.
‘’They brought me out and left with me for the waterside.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
“We boarded the kidnappers’ boat again, but at this point the Navy patrol team arrived, and we heard the sound of the Navy gunboat.
‘’It was at this point that the kidnappers abandoned their boat and escaped into the bush, and when the Navy people came I cried out to them that I was the one held hostage.
“The Navy men took me in their boat and brought me to Yenagoa,” TrustGod said.
TrustGod said that Ambowei was her husband’s brother, based in Port Harcourt. (NAN)
